Establishment and Operation of the Ravensworth North CHPP

Abstract

The Ravensworth North Coal Handling and Preparation Plant Project was completed in late 2013 and it was designed to wash a wide range of coals. This paper describes the design and establishment of the facilities, in a difficult brownfields environment, and some learnings from subsequent operations. Stage 1 of the project included modifications and debottlenecking of the existing coal preparation facilities and the addition of a new raw coal system including crushing and raw coal stacking/reclaiming which linked the existing Ravensworth Open Cut ROM to the Ravensworth Coal Terminal (RCT). In Stage 2 of the project an 1800 t/h, two module extension to the existing CPP was constructed, along with an additional product stockpile and tunnel reclaim system. The processes used at Ravensworth include dense medium cyclones for the -50 + 1.4 mm (ww) coal and spirals for the -1.4 + 0.15 mm coal. The remaining slimes are treated in refurbished high rate thickeners. The plant has now been operating for two years and there have been a number of process and operational improvements.